The first few days of our cruise passed slowly, peacefully, but somehow, we blinked and it was Friday--time for Cozumel, our last port of call.
We were excited to visit Cozumel, all of us for different reasons. Hannah was beyond excited, because she and Kim were swimming with dolphins, the highlight of Hannah's trip. (She's gonna be a dolphin trainer someday, and knows exactly how to get the dolphins to come play with us.)
The boys booked a snorkel trip, and couldn't wait to dive in the coral reefs.
As for me...well, I wanted to get in the water too, but not really in the water. I thought about snorkeling with the boys, until Tim explained that they were going into rough waters on a small 8-man fishing boat. Since I get sea sick just looking at small boats and/or rough water, I immediately declined, opting instead for a trip on a semi-submersible boat with my parents.
We found our group and lined up on the dock with them. I glanced around, noticing I was the youngest person there by a good 40 years, save for one lone little kid with her parents. Apparently, I was the only adult under 80 who'd chosen not to snorkel.
But whatever. We climbed aboard our vessel, which looked like a boat from the top, but like a submarine from inside. The bottom deck had one long bench down the middle, and windows all along the sides. We joked that it was kinda like the old Disneyland submarine ride, and sure enough, when the boat took off, rows of bubbles covered the windows.
The boat headed for the reefs, which were in a protected area. Along the way, we saw all sorts of cool fish, including about a million little zebra fish, blue tangs and even a some barracuda and shovel-nosed guitar fish.
At first the reefs were just kind of interesting, but not spectacular. Then I realized we were on the wrong side of the boat, because once they turned us around, we saw the most amazing coral reefs ever! We saw huge fan corals waving gently in the drifts, and giant brain coral all along the shallow floor. Our guide pointed out brown coral, and said that coral was sleeping, then bright purple coral, which he said was awake.
We motored slowly through the shallow water, followed by an endless parade of brightly-colored parrot fish, zebras and blue tangs. There was a whole rainbow of fish--silver, white, maroon, so many that it felt like we were looking into a giant aquarium (which we kind of were, in a way). One curious maroon fish swam right up to my dad's window, then turned sideways so he could look directly at my dad. He gave my dad the side-eye for a minute or two, then swam off. I guess we weren't the only creatures interested in what was on the other side of the window!
Our guide told us how strictly the government monitored this protected area--divers and snorkelers were allowed in, but couldn't touch the coral or animals at all; he said that a single touch kills the coral in a matter of moments. Divers can't even wear diving gloves or bring knives in, because they might be tempted to touch the coral with those.
I just stared at all the fish while he droned on about the safety measure. I couldn't believe how many there were when suddenly, something caught my eye--a little bit of food the fish all pounced on.
"I think they're feeding the fish!" I gasped, pointing it out to my dad.
"These feesh, they come straight to our boat," the guide said in heavily accented English. "Maybe it's because of all the tortillas the crew feeds them."
I looked at him, as did a few other people.
"They are Mexican feesh," he explained. "So they like Mexican food!"
I just shook my head.
We drifted out into the deeper waters, where the coral was more scarce but much larger. (It grows best in the sunny, shallow water, but bigger in the deep water where it has to work to get up to the sunlight.) This was also where the bigger fish hung out--we saw tons of barracuda, and even better, giant schools of snapper swimming in a tight-knit massive cloud. There were hundreds of fish in each school (we saw two or three schools), all of them sticking close together to appear as one large mass to any interested predators.
I wanted to see some sharks or sea turtles, but there are no sharks in the area, and summer is sea turtle season. I also thought it'd be cool to wave at Tim and the boys snorkeling by, but we didn't see them.
After a few trips around the reefs, the boat headed back in. We returned to the dock excited and completely stoked. We also got back very early--it was only 10:15 in the morning!
The plan was to all meet up at El Presidente hotel around noon. Tim and Kim honeymooned there, and were excited to return 18 years later.
My parents and I strolled around the little shopping mall for a couple minutes, sampling rum cake and trying not to get swindled by the vendors. (One guy tried to sell me a brightly painted gourd mobile for $35.) It was getting hot, so we decided to go directly to the hotel and wait for the group there.
El Presidente was just the cure. I was a little worried at first--there was an armed guard at the gate into the hotel, and he let us in, reluctantly, when we said we were meeting friends for lunch. The bellman greeted us warmly, but immediately lead us to the front desk, where I had to surrender my ID. I wasn't sure why they needed my ID, but I gave them my driver's license.
We walked through the open lobby, and onto a tiny private beach. Now THIS was what I was looking for! There were palapas covering chaise lounges, and smooth, white sand melting into a turquoise sea.
We napped lazily in the chaise lounges. My parents went for a walk around the grounds, and I thought about joining them, but it was just so peaceful, I fell asleep instead. I was 100 percent relaxed when they returned.
There were no vendors or cruise ship passengers around, just sun, sand and a few nosy iguanas sunning themselves.
Tim and the boys showed up a couple hours later, a lot worse for wear. Their snorkeling trip didn't go nearly as well as our trip, and the boys looked a little sick.
Apparently, they were the first passengers onto the little boat, which was supposed to hold 8 passengers but ended up with 20. Tim thought they'd head directly out to the reefs, which they eventually did, after making three stops to pick up other passengers. He said they putt-putted through the marina at approximately 2 mph for 45 minutes, party music blaring through the speakers, at which point poor Nicholas got sea sick.
It didn't get much better out at sea. Nic and Mark had trouble with their snorkels and ditched them. Which meant they had to surface every couple minutes for air, and were promptly slammed by the waves in the rough waters. Tim said they worked hard, swimming their hearts out, but finally had to give up because of the constant pounding.
As the boat made its slow return to the city, Tim decided he was done. They didn't even go back to their port--they just jumped off the boat at the first stop, and caught a taxi out of the marina. By the time they reached us, they were all starving, queasy, and a little pale.
Tim enjoyed the trip a little more than the boys did. He used his snorkel and didn't fight the waves. He figured the photos on the company web site were enhanced, so his expectations were very low. The boys were not impressed by the reef of sea stars or coral--they were looking for sharks or other cool predators.
"I wasn't expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised," Tim said. "But the boys were expecting a lot more, so they were disappointed."
Mark was a little more blunt than Tim.
"It sucked," he said, flatly. "Worst trip ever." Nic nodded in agreement.
But it wasn't anything a little lunch couldn't cure. The boys scarfed down their lunches (and half of mine), and we enjoyed the beautiful restaurant and fantastic view.
Kim and Hannah showed up halfway through lunch. They had a great time--Hannah was very excited and showed off all the photos she bought. They'd arrived early, and got lots of time before and after their dolphin encounter. Hannah the future-dolphin-trainer was in heaven.
And Kim was in heaven, too. Being back at the hotel flooded her with memories. It was fun to listen to Kim and Tim re-live their trip 18 years prior. The hotel hadn't changed at all, but Tim and Kim's family sure had!
Mark was tired after his trip, but Nic was a little antsy (and queasy) after sitting so long. He was also anxious to hunt down some iguanas, and lit up when I said I'd seen a couple earlier, scarfing down hibiscus flowers. We went off in search of them, and found four or five throughout the resort. He tried to feed one big guy and even tried a taste test (does he prefer red flowers or white?) but the big guy was having none of it.
By the afternoon, it was hot, hot, hot. My parents went back to the boat to escape the heat and the rest of us ended up at the pool. It was so nice to relax in the quiet hotel--I felt a million miles away from the throng of cruise ship passengers.
Tim still wanted to see the town, so a couple hours later, we packed up our stuff, reclaimed our IDs, and taxied into town.
We bought a few last souvenirs, and headed back to the boats. The humidity got the best of us as we dragged ourselves down the long dock. But relief was just ahead, in the form of cruise staff, who handed us cool, wet washcloths for our faces, and cups of water or lemonade. We took them all gladly, spritzed ourselves with hand sanitizer, and climbed aboard our home-away-from-home one last time.
We were sad to leave our final port of call, but at least we still had one last sea day left. And I had all these amazing, hilarious memories of a week with spent with some of my very favorite people--it was truly a wonderful week, and I felt so lucky to have shared it with my family.
I waved sadly to Cozumel as our ship set sail one last time. I felt like Norman Paperman in Don't Stop the Carnival--this week was a blast, but hey Mr. Paperman, it was time to go home.
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